Arlington/Alexandria Fundraising Highlights (and Lowlights)

Campaign finance numbers for the second quarter of 2011 are now available on VPAP and also the State Board of Elections website. I’ll be looking at these numbers over the next few days, but for now, here are a few highlights – and lowlights – of the numbers from Arlington and Alexandria.

30th State Senate District

*Cash on hand: Libby Garvey leads with $88,815, followed by Adam Ebbin ($70,388) and Rob Krupicka ($44,773). That’s a strong number for Garvey, who started the quarter with $34,221 cash on hand (compared to $79,859 for Krupicka and $42,414 for Ebbin).

*Sources of funding: About $10,000 of Ebbin’s money came from Adam Ebbin for House of Delegates, with another $5,000 coming from Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund Non-Federal Virginia. $5,000 of Krupicka’s money came from himself, with another $5,000 from someone named Hubert Hoffman III (I think it’s this individual). $10,000 of Garvey’s money came from Sen. Patsy Ticer and $5,000 from Bob Hemphill of AES Solar Energy.

*Sources of funding: $42,000 of Favola’s money came from a troika of Senators – Dick Saslaw (who last night at the Partisans fundraiser was reportedly threatening to pour another $200k into the primary on behalf of Favola). In addition, as ArlNow reports, “Favola accepted nearly $35,000 in donations from real estate, development and hotel companies.” So, basically it’s Saslaw, Whipple, Howell, and the developers for Favola. As for Areizaga-Soto, his money overwhelmingly came from loaning it to himself, as well as from “friends and family in his native Puerto Rico” and “fellow attorneys.”

This is just a quick note to say thank you to everyone who donated in the 2nd Quarter. Because of you, Libby is now #1. We raised more money this quarter than either of our opponents and, as of the reporting deadline on June 30th, have the highest amount of money to spend in this race! Libby’s out knocking on doors as I write this, and when I called to tell her the good news, she exclaimed, “Oh my, this is so amazing!”

You have helped us prove that Libby Garvey is a force to be reckoned with in this election. We’ve made over 5,000 calls and knocked almost 1,000 doors since Monday! Libby also sent her first piece of campaign mail on Tuesday and the response has been overwhelming. But even with the incredible momentum we’ve seen over the past few weeks, we still have another 39 days to go.

New volunteers are showing up at our headquarters on 1521 King Street every day. Click here to sign up to volunteer, join the fun and keep this great momentum going. Also, we simply must continue communicating Libby’s unique and powerful message in the mail, so if you can, a contribution of $100, $50 or even $25 will go a long way to make that a reality!

a LOT more money to Barbara Favola ($17,000), who is in a SAFE DEMOCRATIC DISTRICT, than to Ralph Northam ($5,000) or George Barker ($5,000) or Phil Puckett ($5,000) or Roscoe Reynolds ($5,000), all of whom are, to varying degrees, in very much NOT safe districts. That, my friends, is seriously bizarre, if not totally FUBAR. What in bloody…uh, heck is going on here?!?

NewVirginia

If Jaime Areizaga-Soto were some Larouchie who accidentally got on the primary ballot, one might expect the Democratic Leadership to help out as much as possible to make sure he/she did not end up on the General Election ballot. But when a highly qualified Hispanic/Latino leader of the Commonwealth is running a great campaign and will make a great Senator, there is no excuse for wasting resources in an election year such as this — with so many wonderful incumbents and new candidates in brand new (and not so safe) open seats running.

Caucus and other Senate money needs to be used more wisely than to defeat a great Democratic party member who would make history and be a wonderful asset in the General Assembly, the way Jaime Areizaga-Soto would be.

NOVA expat

how much money is floating around out there in candidate accounts for candidates who aren’t running?

For example, John Chichester, who hasn’t been in office for 4 years, still has $182,000!

Senator Whipple still has $136,000 on hand! Senator Ticer has about $66,000. Those will be big boosts to some D candidates, hopefully.

NOVA expat

Saslaw has been (reasonably) criticized for who he has given to, but what about those candidates who haven’t given, particularly those that don’t have challengers?

For instance, Don McEachin, who has no opponent, hasn’t given to a single D who’s running. Oh, but he’s got Regal Cinemas taken care of for $30.

Come on, Senator McEachin! Let’s keep the Senate blue together!

Chap Peterson, who does have a nominal opponent (who’s got a whopping $16,000 on hand), also hasn’t helped out any colleagues, despite having the fourth highest cash on hand total in the Senate

Not an attack on either, just a good-natured suggestion to these guys to help their friends out.

NOVA expat

about Jaime’s burn rate?

I don’t know what his personal financial situation is, but it seems reasonable to think that he can’t keep loaning himself money in $160,000 chunks.

He raised $233,816 and spent $192,678 – a burn rate of 82%! That’s really, really high, particularly for this time of year and considering that such a large proportion of his amount raised came from a loan to his campaign.

No matter who wins this primary, it seems to me that we should all agree that this seat shouldn’t be a seat that consumes a large proportion of party resources (and the same goes if Favola wins, obviously).

If Jaime wins (and he can’t keep loaning himself money – though maybe he can), he needs to get his expenses under control ASAP or else he’s going to be asking other candidates for money himself, in a so-called “safe seat”. That’s as bad for the collective effort to keep the Senate blue as Saslaw’s throwing cash at Favola (which again, is bad).

Also, a special note for Peter Rousselot: expressing a concern about the way Jaime is running his campaign does not make me a troll. This is a post about campaign fundraising, this is as on topic as it gets, and it’s not an attack of any other commenter. I note this because Peter has taken it upon himself to troll-rate every comment I’ve made, about this race or otherwise.